First CC wetsanding experience - went well :)

[Cole Ziegler]

So today I messed around wetsanding the CC on our 03 F150 with some 2000grit 3m paper, and then compounded with rotary and m105, then polished with DA orange pad and m205, topped with tech wax 2.0. Looks great and will do the whole truck eventually, however my sanding lines were the most beautiful, and im not sure if i sanded enough, any pointers?

Before whole Truck:







Panel Before:





Panel After Sanding:


not very pretty, I think I shouldve sanded a little more, kind of iffy

Panel After Compound and Polish:





After Tech Wax 2.0:
(panel)




(a little less orange peel now )






(Whole Truck)






The Workshop:



Sorry for camera quality, thanks for any advice or pointers!

[AndrewR/T]

Re: First CC wetsanding experience - went well

Looks good but you should have sanded a lot more, but lightly. You want the whole panel to look the same, so it all needs sanded down to the same level. You will notice spots with more/less orange peel with the way you sanded.

[Cole Ziegler]

Re: First CC wetsanding experience - went well

Thats exactly what i figured, i sprayed too much soap/water mix in some places making the paper not bite at all. Thanks!

[Cole Ziegler]

Re: First CC wetsanding experience - went well

One other question, I know what it looks like when CC has been sanded through, and I know your not supposed to sand more than .5um of clear, and I also know its impossible to know HOW MUCH to sand,

my question is: Will the CC visually look different if just .5um is sanded through or will it only look as if its been sanded through if ALL of it has been sanded through?

[AndrewR/T]

Re: First CC wetsanding experience - went well

That's another worry when it comes to wet sanding. You don't want to sand off too much or else you'll hit your base coat. It all depends on how much exposure to the sun and the weather your truck has seen. You can still lightly wet sand, but this will not get rid of all the orange peel. If you're not picky about the look of you clear coat I wouldn't worry about it. A good light wet sand will help bring back the true color and will still help out a lot in the overall appearance.

[Cole Ziegler]

Re: First CC wetsanding experience - went well

I was mostly working on just that, bringing back the color. I take it to remove orange peel it requires quite a bit of wetsanding?

[AndrewR/T]

Re: First CC wetsanding experience - went well

Yes, and it still won't completely remove all orange peel, but it does help:

[Ganesa]

Re: First CC wetsanding experience - went well

yup removing orange peel takes way more wetsanding and dedication.. but you did a great job bringing back the color :]...

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: First CC wetsanding experience - went well

You brought back a lot more pop. IT is a big improvement. Looks good.

[Cole Ziegler]

Re: First CC wetsanding experience - went well

Thanks guys, will do the whole truck after the mods.... planning on adding 2 tone beige on bottom like 4wd models and fender flares, plus repainting grill, misc stereo, all sorts of goodies! Thanks for all the advice and comments

[Eddie6th]

Re: First CC wetsanding experience - went well

Have you tried buffing without wetsanding?

The peel doesn't look bad.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: First CC wetsanding experience - went well

Have you tried buffing without wetsanding?

The peel doesn't look bad.

A very good point. Have you tried buffing with just the rotary and M105 first to see what that does for the color?

Quite honestly, from the looks of your sanding marks, you aren't really doing much of anything to the paint with the sandpaper (which, honestly, is a good thing since you're just getting started with this) except scuffing it up a bit. We're willing to bet that, given how little you sanded, the vast majority of visual improvement made thus far is from the rotary/M105.

People always caution against sanding so much that you sand through the clear into the color coat, but the truth of the matter is the damage is done long before that. The 0.5mil maximum paint removal recommendation is based on the amount of UV protection being removed in the process - as a clear coat dries the majority of the UV protection rises to the top, so removing even a small percentage of clear removes a large percentage of UV protection. This will lead to premature clear coat failure. Virtually every auto manufacturer stipulates this 0.5mil max clear removal.

Do you even have a paint thickness gauge to guide you through this process? Remember that 0.5mil is 1/2 of 1/1000 of an inch (technically, 0.0005 inch) - you can get through pretty quickly if you aren't experienced in the process. This really isn't something one should enter into lightly, especially on a vehicle you, or someone else, care about.

Before you even consider any further wet sanding, listen to Eddie and try just rotary buffing first - and hopefully you're at least reasonably adept at that too.

Edit to add: Looking back at the sanding marks, are you using a block or pad of any sort when wet sanding? It looks like you're just doing it with your bare hand, which would explain the very uneven marks. Doing so you run a huge risk of cutting much too deeply where you fingers are applying pressure and not cutting much of anything in the space between your fingers. Not only does this potentially lead to removal of too much clear, but you can easily end up with a noticeable wavy pattern that can be very visible when looking down the side of the vehicle.

If you're going to insist on pursuing this, do yourself a favor and pick up a body panel from a junkyard and practice on that. We love that you have this desire to learn wet sanding, we just think you're far, far better off learning on something with little or no value. And with a junk yard panel you can actually do some testing and see what it takes to sand through to the color, or even rotary buff through the paint on edges, body lines/creases, etc.

[Cole Ziegler]

Re: First CC wetsanding experience - went well

That was also in the plan, Michael, picking up a junk panel to sand. Used a block to sand, and the whole truck was done with the rotary and menz po83 before, about 3 or 4 months ago, actually the first truck I experimented on and thats why there were some holograms on the hood, this was before i had the PC. The sole reason of wetsanding the truck was just to gain some experience, so I was mainly looking to practice, thanks for all the advice guys! Will pick up a panel or two to practice on.

[Tim Lingor]

Re: First CC wetsanding experience - went well

Hey,

I think you are missing the point however....

After reading your thread about possibly wet sanding someones BMW, and then seeing this thread, I believe you are missing the point of the warning about wet sanding OEM paint.

As Mike said, OEM paint is thin, very thin and can be hard as glass. Meaning, it is easy to sand the paint but extremely difficult to remove the tracers and sanding marks. Do an alcohol/water wipe and then pull it into the sun, do you see any feint lines?

In this thread, to be quite honest, that sanding work was very poor. You did not use a block and some of those sanding lines caused by improper sanding by hand, could have left some very deep marring that may be hidden by the LSP. Hence doing the Alcohol/water wipe down.

To be frank, at the level you are at, you should not go near a BMW with sanding paper unless you have the money to pay for a full repaint if something goes wrong. Removing the orange peel may in fact put the paint way below the maximum amount of product removal. This is the reason why most people do not wet sand OEM paint. Also, some paints are as hard as glass so while the saning is easy, you may not be able to remove the sanding marks without the proper products, tools and knowledge on how to do this...

Please do practice as said on an old hood, read as much as you can on the subject and stay away from sanding OEM or aftermarket paint unless you have a LOT of experience and very good insurance in case a mistake happens, and they will happen, not if, but when.

I am not trying to discourage you and we all appreciate your enthusiasm. But after viewing this thread, you are in way over your head at this point. With practice you may be able to offer the service, but just because you can does not mean you should. Being sued for libel because your work caused the premature failing of the paint could cost you a lot of money. So just slow down and you will get there in time. We all had to take time to get to the point we are at. And, I have made many mistakes along the way. Believe me...

When the time comes, I will be the first one to step up and off help with any of your questions.

Tim

[the_invisible]

Re: First CC wetsanding experience - went well

Tim Lingor is right!!! I would trust his judgement regarding the difference between OEM paint and aftermarket paint. Aftermarket paint usually has two thicker, slightly softer clear coat, as opposed to one layer of hard coat. This is because bodyshops need that extra room to remove dust nibs and that bake the paint at a much lower tempature.

Moreover, BMW paint is very hard. From my experience, a traditional 4 ply wool pad is just enough to remove heavy swirls at an adequate rate on BMW paint. To remove sanding marks adequately you will probably have to go with the maroon solo pad to remove those marks. I finally have the chance to work on my 335i and I cannot imagine how long it would take to properly wetsand this car. Swirl removal alone is a challenge.